Twins Relievers Are Pitching Out of Their Minds

[Nick Nelson]

Since recovering from their stumble out of the gate, the Minnesota Twins have been one of the winningest teams in baseball, largely because they are performing phenomenally in close games. 

For all the fluctuations we've seen from the lineup and rotation, their (mostly) steady and stellar bullpen has been the unsung hero in Minnesota's ability to play at a 90-win pace in the absence of Royce Lewis.

Image courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

In Sunday's series finale against the Houston Astros, Rocco Baldelli made a familiar move: he pivoted away from his starting pitcher early, counting on his bullpen to carry the freight in a close game. Simeon Woods Richardson wasn't at his best, but he was still at 66 pitches in the fifth inning of a one-run game. Rather than let him see the Houston lineup for a third time, Baldelli turned to his relief corps.

The outcome was also familiar: Minnesota's bullpen locked it down with 4 ⅔ shutout innings to set up and seal a 4-3 victory. The Twins improved to 11-4 in one-run games on the season, with Caleb Thielbar, Jorge Alcalá, Steven Okert, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Durán combining to stifle Astros bats and set the stage for José Miranda's heroics.

The Twins are now 9-3 in their last 12 games since snapping a seven-game losing streak, and during this span, those five relievers who pitched on Sunday have allowed a total of one earned run in 26 ⅓ innings, good for a 0.34 ERA. Durán converted all seven of his save attempts during that span.

For the season, Minnesota's bullpen ranks seventh among MLB teams in ERA (3.69) and sixth in FIP (3.72), despite being without one of their three best relievers (Brock Stewart or Durán) for literally every game.

This unit has certainly not been without its hiccups; inflated ERAs from now-absent relievers Jay Jackson and Kody Funderburk took a toll, as did a pair of rough outings from Durán in Cleveland. But in its current form, there is a whole lot to like about the bullpen makeup and its outlook. The closer has been highly effective, even if his velocity is down a bit. Late-inning contributors are getting it done across the board. And Griffin Jax. Hoo boy.

I wrote about Jax's potential to rise and command the Twins bullpen just ahead of the season, coming off a ridiculously impressive spring camp. The righthander has lived up to the hype, and then some. He ranks ninth in the majors with a 1.88 FIP, and seventh with a 2.15 xERA. Jax's Statcast page is an array of blindingly bright red sliders, illustrating the underlying dominance that fuels his numbers.

Jax's sweeper has been an absolute wipeout pitch, as anticipated. Opponents have an xBA of .191 against it and an xSLG of .219 – no one can handle the freakish 89-MPH breaking ball. It slices across the batter's field of view like a buzzsaw. Somehow, he only seems to be getting better and stronger. On Sunday, he unleashed a 98.6-MPH fastball, the hardest of his career.

At some point, the Twins will (hopefully) get Stewart back, but as things stand, this looks like a deep and overpowering bullpen, led by Durán and Jax but with capable performers throughout. I promise: this article isn't intended to serve as a jinx (although it may function as one, especially with the Twins heading into Yankee Stadium). Rather, take it as a token of appreciation for what the relief corps has accomplished through the first third of the season, and especially of late, despite being pressed heavily by a ton of close games.

Bullpens only tend to get noticed and discussed when they're struggling. Let's celebrate the fact that, right now, Minnesota's relievers are doing the opposite. They're pitching out of their minds, and have played a massive role in getting the Twins right back on track.

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[Patzky]

For all the criticism, Rocco has done a reasonable job of managing this group. The Duran anxiety level is still high, and l walk away when Thielbar comes in. But they do the job more often than not.

 

We are all Wondering about Stewart's timeline and status..

[DJL44]

The trade for Okert has been helpful. Thielbar has missed time and Okert has shut down LH hitters. With multiple LH relievers they can afford to matchup more than once in a game if needed.

Sands has improved. Alcala has been healthy. Staumont has been healthy and effective. I think there's even some upside if they finally move Varland to the bullpen permanently.

[BH67]

I remember well last August on these pages where any plaudits for Griffin Jax were countered by a larger wave of disgust. How time flies.

To me, the constant of recent MLB pitching philosophy is that a deep bullpen is essential for genuine playoff contenders. For all the whiffs in free agency along the way, the Twins appear to have built a great one in 2024. Failures will happen in critical games still, but the pen's current quality is not a fluke.

[Doctor Gast]

I'm happy with how the group sits right now. Especially now they have Alcala up & using him right. I'm interested in Diego Castillo return to MLB. Consequently he has resolved his command problem to go with his stuff. For the time being they should have Varland in the BP & up at MLB. The same goes for Canterino whenever he gets back & ramped up. And of course the return of Stewart, our BP could be the best.

[jmlease1]

The bullpen has been so good overall that our expectations for them have risen significantly. People get mad if anything untoward happens in the late game and our middle relief is expected to be as good as a closer.

I felt good about this group coming into the season; wasn't sure about Jackson, especially because it seemed like we had few guys with options to move around, and he hasn't worked out. I thought Funderburk would do better, but he really hasn't been pitching all that long, so some patience is warranted. I think he'll be back up (unless everyone stays healthy?).But I also thought Topa was going to be a key contributor, and he's been barely missed and we've managed through missed time from Duran and Stewart pretty nicely.

If Stewart can get back soonish, the right side of the bullpen looks just destructive: Duran, Jax, Stewart, and Alcala are all playoff worthy. Okert and Thielbar have been great against LH, but are getting bombed by righties; if they can get tick up closer to average against RHers then it's going to be tough for teams to get anything going against this bullpen.

Really the only thing missing from this bullpen is a guy who can go 2 innings every 3-4 days if needed and bridge the middle innings on a day where a starter only goes 4-5 innings. And frankly, those aren't easy to find. It's an odd role and a lot of times the ones who show out at it end up getting higher leverage roles as 1 inning set-up men or closers. (and they're not as useful in the playoffs either)

they're looking pretty good right now considering no Topa or Stewart. I didn't love how they handled Alcala earlier in the season, but they seem to have him in a 1 inning role that he's more suited towards now. 

[DJL44]

12 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

The same goes for Canterino whenever he gets back & ramped up.

I will be shocked if this ever happens.

[Doctor Gast]

36 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I will be shocked if this ever happens.

Like Duran, Canterino doesn't have the arm to be expected to pitch in the rotation. But Canterino has electric stuff & he's smart, IMO he'd be fine in the BP & dominates.

[DJL44]

2 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Like Duran, Canterino doesn't have the arm to be expected to pitch in the rotation. But Canterino has electric stuff & he's smart, IMO he'd be fine in the BP & dominates.

I'll be shocked if he is ever able to pitch a full season. He hasn't pitched in 2 years and there is no timetable for a return. It's more likely he retires than he pitches 50 innings in the majors.

[Mark G]

Once again, I can only ask the question:  can a bullpen continue to pitch approx. 40% of the innings pitched in a 162 game season?  

[old nurse]

8 minutes ago, Mark G said:

Once again, I can only ask the question:  can a bullpen continue to pitch approx. 40% of the innings pitched in a 162 game season?  

Pretty much every team was close to 40% last year. 20 f the teams were over 

[ashbury]

37 minutes ago, Mark G said:

Once again, I can only ask the question:  can a bullpen continue to pitch approx. 40% of the innings pitched in a 162 game season?  

So far this season Twins starters rank 14th in number of innings pitched, placing the staff squarely in the mainstream of the 30 teams.  This, despite sporting a collective ERA that ranks 22nd in ERA.  This suggests Rocco's actually shown patience with his starters.

They rank 21st in innings pitched by relievers*.  If the Twins bullpen is stretched, then so is virtually every other major league team's, and regulating that strain is part of every manager's job.

 

*A spot check of the teams with the very fewest relief innings correlates with having very good starter ERAs, and that tends to fluctuate over the long season so I would expect all these numbers to shift a bit by year end.

 

[Fatbat]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

I'll be shocked if he is ever able to pitch a full season. He hasn't pitched in 2 years and there is no timetable for a return. It's more likely he retires than he pitches 50 innings in the majors.

60/40 split is ok if you can shuttle some pitchers across the river and you don’t have many garbage innings. It helps SP from getting fatigue from 32 starts.  We just need to keep fresh quality arms no matter what inning they are throwing in. 

[IaBeanCounter]

The relivers, other than Sands, had a good month of May.  My question is who gets optioned of DFA'd when Stewart comes back.  My order of relievers based on my expectations are as follows:

1st 4 - Duran, Jax, Okert, Alcala

Last 4 Staumont, Thielbar Castillo, Sands, 

Sands was good in April when the Twins were without Duran, but in May he had a 9.31 ERA.  If he has options he should be sent down when Stewart is available.  Castillo has only appeared in 2 games, but did well in them pitching 2 inning each.  I don't know if he can become the "long" man to bridge a short start to 1st 4 relievers.

[bean5302]

3 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Like Duran, Canterino doesn't have the arm to be expected to pitch in the rotation. But Canterino has electric stuff & he's smart, IMO he'd be fine in the BP & dominates.

Why do you feel Canterino's stuff is so great? He's got virtually no time above the low minors.

[bean5302]

The Twins bullpen has been as billed IMHO. Despite significant time losses by Duran and Stewart, The overall value of the bullpen isn't my focus. It's the top 3-4 arms since those are the guys you typically see when the game is on the line and Griffin Jax, Brock Stewart, Jhoan Duran and Jorge Alcala make for an outstanding unit at this point.

[Schmoeman5]

3 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Why do you feel Canterino's stuff is so great? He's got virtually no time above the low minors.

If some one put it on the internet.  Its gospel.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, IaBeanCounter said:

My question is who gets optioned of DFA'd when Stewart comes back.

Diego Castillo has 2 options left. He goes.

[DocBauer]

I never understood so many having so much angst when the season began in regard to the Twins having "potentially" the best pen in MLB. The Twins tried to assemble the best pen they could, but they weren't the ones saying it. And when the pen blew a game or two here and there, they became easy fodder for pointed comments. And it's fine to have an opinion, or get frustrated when things don't go right, but as pointed out in the OP, by and large, the Twins pen has been very good this season.

Hard to believe that when the season started the top 5 pen arms were Duran, Jax, Stewart, Thielbar, and Topa in just about everyone's mind. Three of that top 5 have spent at least a couple weeks on the IL, and Topa hasn't appeared the entire season, and might not. Alcala is throwing well, especially when used on a 1 inning basis. Okert has been solid. And at different times, we've gotten contributions from Sands, Castillo, Duarte, Staumont, and Funderburk. I'm probably forgetting someone. (I still think Funderburk's stuff plays, it's just harnessing his control more). 

There's been production, and results, and there's decent depth despite some injuries that have curtailed or eliminated seasons. I doubt Varland moves to the pen at this time due to rotation depth, but I can see him there come September, adding another high velocity and potentially dominate arm. 

I like what I've seen, I like what I'm seeing, and I think I'm going to continue liking what I see.

[Doctor Gast]

1 hour ago, Schmoeman5 said:

If some one put it on the internet.  Its gospel.

Absolutely not, especially if someone has to gain something. It's only what I gathered, it's my opinion, nothing more. I don't think I'm the only one who has this opinion about Canterino.

[mikelink45]

Relief pitching is so difficult to assess and predict I can only say we are doing well right now and I hope it continues.

[h2oface]

Well I guess you have to take the opportunity while it exists. It might be more impressive if it was written after this 3 game series in New York. And folks sure are still making a lot of contact against Duran, but getting rid of a couple pitchers that stunk, and one that never should have been signed has made them better. 

I'm sure Theilbar appreciated the article.... 😇

[LambchoP]

Well it's usually cheaper to build a winning bullpen than a winning rotation and looks like that's what the twins have done. With Duran Jax and Stewart in late innings, then a power arm of Alcala, Varland and hopefully at some point Canterino we've got a shot at having one of the best bullpens in the game. Seeing Alcala come back up throwing 100 is great to see.